Ice
by dreamerchaos
Summary: SkyfirexPerceptor. Past SkyfirexStarscreamxPerceptor. Sometimes the past has a nasty way of coming back to haunt you...


Title: Spark of Ice  
Author: dreamerchaos  
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are owned by Hasbro. I'm only playing with them.

Rating: R. Hints of slash. Slash pairing. Rating as a result of violence, and language and hints of gore.  
Summary: Months ago I promised kirin_saga a sequel to my SkyfirexPerceptor drabble 'Hopeful Kiss' that was written in "Humans Call It A Kiss" as a late birthday present. Sorry about it being so late!!

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

Perceptor held Brawn's firm stare. "I don't know what you're talking about." He insists quietly.

"I think you do." The Minibot replied.

"You can think whatever you want, Brawn." Perceptor turns his back in pointed dismissal. Returning to the energon dispenser, focusing on the slow stream of lavender liquid filling the square container, "But I wish you would cease to pester me."

"I'm not blind!" Brawn growls, "I may be the only who has noticed the bond that you and Skyfire share, but I also know that you and the shuttle share a bond with a certain **Decepticon**."

Perceptor is thankful that his back faces the Minibot. The expression that flits across his face betrayed his surprise and the hot flush of terror. "…I―"

"_Look." _Brawn interrupts, "I don't know, and I don't** want** to know the nitty-gritty about your relationship with Skyfire. Better yet, with 'Screamer. All I'm saying is, you should watch yourself."

"Is that a threat?" Perceptor shuts of the dispenser, turning to face Brawn.

"No." Brawn sighs, turning his face, shoulders slumping in defeat, "But you and I both know that you're no warrior. Not by a long shot. And if you think that the Seeker isn't going to stumble across the fact that you and shuttle are currently hooked up right underneath his olfactory sensors then you got another thing coming."

"I…Skyfire and I can handle ourselves." Perceptor stares down into the rippling depths of his cup, watching the twists and spirals of his reflection.

"Can you?" Brawn asks, voice serious, "Because believe me, I don't want to be in your place if Starscream figures it out."

"He won't."

"For **your** sake," The Minibot steps away, finally determining that he should leave the microscope with what remained of his self-imposed break from his lab and projects, "I hope that you're right."

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

Wheeljack hummed along with the upbeat tune strumming from his radio. Wheels rolling at a sedate pace through the city streets, "This exhibition will be amazing!" The engineer gushes, speaking to the microscope sitting in the passenger seat of his alt. mode, "I can't wait to see what the human scientists will be showing."

"Agreed," Perceptor, unable to nod in agreement, let alone shift too much while in his alt. form, especially when settled comfortably within Wheeljack's car interior, was forced to express his excitement in his tone of voice, "I'm thankful that Prime agreed to this outing, and that Ratchet did not need any assistance from us while we are away from base."

Bluestreak raced forward and slowed alternately, pulling in tight against Wheeljack's rear bumper. Close enough to tap the mech's moving frame if he desired, "How much long until we arrive, Wheeljack?" The sharpshooter asked, taking his guard-duty serious, sticking close to the two scientists.

"Just a couple of more miles," Wheeljack soothed the Datsun's worry, "We'll pull into the underground parking lot. The human Security is aware of when we will be arriving, and have promised that there will be plenty of room for us to stand and move around. We can enter and leave the exhibit through the parking lot without drawing too much attention. Since the exhibition is 'by invitation only', we won't have to worry about a human mob following us around either."

"G-good," The Datsun sighed in relief, "The last thing I want to do is draw unnecessary attention―"

Metal ― and Bluestreak ― shrieked, as the black and purple jet came out of nowhere, ramming into the side of the Datsun's driver side door; doors and metal skin crumbling like paper beneath the force of impact, horn blaring, nearby cars swerving and smashing into parked cars along the sides of the street. Knocked sideways, Bluestrak flipped through the air, smashing into the storefront of a boutique store. Narrowly missing a small group of humans who ducked and covered their heads, screaming in terror as the car disappeared through the shattered face of the building.

"_**BLUESTREAK!!" **_Wheeljack fumbled to stay in his appropriate lane, with the other cars swerving and skidding wildly. A fire hydrant gushing a geyser of water, knocked askew by a sedan smashing into the red metal, water pouring into the street, causing several vehicles to hydroplane.

Spinning into a one-hundred and eighty degree turn, Wheeljack floored his engines, tearing through the street and back towards Bluestreak. "Get in contact with the Ark!" Wheeljack ordered his passenger, "Tell them we need backup―"

Suddenly more humans began screaming in terror. Not when Wheeljack transformed, forcing the microscope to somersault out of his interior and onto the street―

The humans more focused on the bipedal black and purple Seeker looming in the center of the intersection. Scuffed and dented, the Decepticon didn't appear too worn given the violent attack thrown at Bluestreak, much to the scientist's and engineer's private dismay.

Grunting, Skywarp heaved a black truck over his head, ignoring the passengers spilling out of the car and hitting the ground with the sound of limbs and flesh smacking concrete. "Catch!" The Seeker snarled, tossing the vehicle in their direction.

Perceptor, sliding into bipedal form as well, dove into Wheeljack's side, pushing them out of the way just in time.

The vehicle flipped seven times down the street before slamming down on top of a moving, green sedan. On impact, both cars burst into flames.

Burning fuel and burning bodies filled the air. A stampede of the native species fleeing from the aggressor hurling vehicles and anything not bolted to the street.

"Run, _run_!" Skywarp cackled, firing into the crowd and across the glass front of the tall buildings. Raining shards of glass slicing and impaling the running, stumbling humans, "Run, you little insects!"

"**Stop it!" **Perceptor shouted in horror.

Wheeljack pulled a small blaster from subspace. Aiming at the Seeker, "Perceptor! Comm. the Ark!"

"I'm trying!" Perceptor ducked behind the corner of a building, narrowly avoiding a shot from the Seeker, "There isn't a signal!"

"Radio white-out," The engineer groaned, "They're blocking the communication frequencies."

"We have to reach Bluestreak!" Perceptor peers around the corner, looking towards the smoking crater in the building, catching the gleam of metal from the underside of the overturned mech still in his alternate form. "He needs a medic! Badly!!"

"GO!" Wheeljack fired at the Seeker. Skywarp ducking and avoiding the shot, diving behind a pile-up of smoldering wreckage, hurling barbed curses at the engineer, "I'll hold him off!"

Under the engineer's cover-fire, Perceptor ducks and races towards the fallen Autobot, "Bluestreak!" Falling to his knees, he pushes his upper body into the damaged building's interior. Carefully laying gentle hands upon the damaged vehicle, "Talk to me, Bluestreak."

"gg..kkkktttt!" Bluestreak tries and fails to switch to bipedal mode, too much damage sustained to complete the transformation. The driver-side caved in, leaking fuel and a mixture of black waste and energon across the tile floor.

Taking extra precaution, Perceptor pulls the vehicle off its side, slowly lowering until Bluestreak rests on all four tires. Wincing when the sharpshooter lets out a painful shriek, pieces literally falling off his frame once all tires are settled.

The microscope whimpers at causing the pain he is instilling upon the young mech, "Forgive me…" Perceptor begs.

In vain, he tries the comm. link again, slumping when the connection only summons more static. Still he persists, "This is Autobot Perceptor! We need immediate medical assistance! Decepticon forces currently at our immediate location and extremely hostile! Civilian casualties and one soldier injured! I repeat! We need―"

From the street, there is a frantic shout. Wheeljack flying backwards through the air, hitting the ground and sliding painfully across the cracked pavement, scrapping the paint off his shoulders and stripping slivers of metal from his side.

"Wheeljack!" Torn between aiding Bluestreak and tending to the injured engineer, Perceptor stumbles to his pedes, but remains frozen, not knowing who to turn to first.

The ball bearing within his neck shriek in agony when a curled fist smashes into his cheek, twisting the microscope's head around to follow the low-handed strike; the momentum spins him into a drunken pirouette, limbs askew when he smashes into a heap onto the street.

"Keep your optics on your **real** target, Autobot." Thundercracker looms above Skywarp slithering into view, sneering at the bruised, shaken microscope sprawled at their pedes.

It was swiftly apparent to Perceptor what ― or _whom ― _had struck and flung the engineer earlier, no doubt the second Seeker launching a similar sneak attack like the first Seeker.

"Seekers: Two points. Autobots: **Zero**." Skywarp chortles, "Want to add another point to our score, TC?" Leering at the wide blue optics of the collapsed scientist, baring his denta in a meta-shark grin.

"Whatever." Thundercracker sighs, boredom painting his expression, ruby optics flickering over the mech before disdainfully turning away, "Just get rid of him, then. The human reinforcements will be here soon."

"No need to tell me twice." Skywarp gripes. Lifting and aiming his null rays at the Autobot, "I'll make this quick." The Decepticon promises the microscope, countering the merciful gesture with a sneer and a short perverse chuckle of mirth, "So just _try _and show a little bit of _gratitude_."

Perceptor lowers his optics, averting his gaze as the Decepticon's weapons slowly power on, humming as the energy begins to concentrate to disperse into sharp, well-aimed blasts.

"_**Stop."**_

Skywarp's weapons immediately power down, the Seeker taking a step back. _"What?" _He sputters, in disbelief.

Perceptor gasps in surprise as a warm hand grasps him by the back of his neck, lifting him off the ground, off his pedes, dangling in the third Seeker's grip. Cringing at the familiar pair of scarlet glass that bore into his…

Starscream snarls at the microscope's horrified look, giving the smaller Autobot a firm shake, causing the mech to whine softly as cobalt fingers tighten around the sensitive dermal flesh of his neck, "Don't lay a hand on this one." Starscream commands, "I believe I shall handle this one **personally**."

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

"Quickly! Get him on the table!"

"First Aid! Over here! Hurry!"

Prowl and Smokescreen carefully heave Bluestreak onto the medical table, the sharpshooter sobbing as his wings press flat upon the berth. _"It hurts!"_ Trying to squeeze his lips hard together to try to push past the agonizing pain of his ruined wings and damaged frame.

Swoop, with great care, lays the engineer on a nearby berth, the Dinobot whimpering as his creator's head lolls weakly, only a pinpoint of azure light shining from the mech's optics, the Autobot barely online. Wheeljack lifts a shaky hand, and Swoop catches the trembling appendage with both of his larger ones, faintly squeezing against the engineer's grip, "..zz..'kkkaaay ― _Swooooop_―" Wheeljack's vocals buzz with static, energon coughing forth from the open wounds in his chassis.

"Don't talk!" Ratchet snaps, sinking several IV lines into the engineer, "Save your strength!"

Skyfire and Mirage help Smokescreen and Prowl as Bluestreak begins to seize, frame rattling as his body twists and arches from the berth's surface._ "Ratchet!"_ The Noble pleads desperately, "Hurry!"

First Aid and Swoop descend on the Datsun, quickly administering painkillers while Ratchet struggles to stabilize the engineer before he can work on his second patient.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

"We almost didn't make it in time." Ironhide growls, hunched over in a seat outside the Medical Ward, holding his helm in his hands, "The humans had to contact us and warn us that our mechs were bleeding out on their streets!" The old soldier cursed bitterly.

"Prime," Jazz rests a hand on his leader's wrist, the Autobot leader standing with his arms folded, optics focused on the floor, trying to maintain his iron composure while two of his soldiers lay in the next room struggling to remain online and not fall into the embrace of the Matrix. "Sir…Perceptor is still missing." The saboteur whispers, keeping his voice low so that the other mechs would not hear about another soldier missing in action. He did not want to cause a panic or uproar, their teams already distraught that the young Datsun and exuberant engineer so badly damaged.

"There was no sign of him?" Optimus whispers back in question, voice equally soft.

Jazz solemnly shakes his helm.

Optimus Prime hides his face into one hand, releasing a great gust of grief and worry, "…we'll need to organize a search party." The Prime is slow to speak, considering their next course of action, "We will also need to provide aid to the humans who are still searching for survivors in the city where the Seekers launched their attack."

"Sir!" Jazz salutes the Prime, "I'll have teams assembled by the end of the joor."

The Prime and the saboteur lift their heads from their absorbing conversation when the Medical doors slide open.

Skyfire wearily ducks his helm, stepping into the hallway. Blinking at the many pairs of optics looking back, waiting with bated breaths for the status of the two patients, "Bluestreak and Wheeljack will survive." The shuttle smiles comfortingly when various mechs collapse and cover their faces with relief, "Grimlock, Hot Spot, Silverbolt, Ratchet wants to speak to you three."

The three leaders rush into the room, eager to check on the engineer personally. Skyfire steps aside, halting when Sunstreaker and Sideswipe approach him.

"Is Bluestreak okay?" Sideswipe demands, "I mean…he's_ really_ all right?"

Skyfire nods, "Ratchet assures me that he will recover. You may visit him, but please make it short. Also…please be warned that the damage is severe. Trust in Ratchet and his trainees."

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe step inside the Medical Ward. Skyfire, watching the door close behind the twins, then turns to face the Prime. "Optimus, sir…"

"Skyfire." The Prime rests his hands on the shuttle's shoulders, bowing his helm against the bereft mech, "I swear to you that we will **find** him."

Skyfire bites his lip, saying nothing. Face screwing together as he tries to retain his composure.

"Trust in us, big guy." Jazz offers support, thumping his hand against the shuttle's broad back, "We'll find Percy and bring him back safe and sound. And Primus help the Deceptiscum who would dare to lay a finger on him."

"…thank you. Both of you." The shuttle slips away, leaving the two to continue with their talks and plans. Walking down the familiar halls leading towards the microscope's empty labs.

His hands and shoulders shake with the thought of the smaller mech at the mercy of some unknown Decepticons. He lays a hand of his Spark, as his chassis twinges and burns, throbbing in agony at the thought of his mate so far away who may be in need of his help.

To Skyfire's immense surprise, his comm. link suddenly chimes. He jumps at the familiar frequency, immediately opening his connection, "Perceptor?!" The shuttle gasps.

"_Sorry to disappoint, but no," _Icicles shiver down his back, Starscream purring darkly over the comm., _"I'm afraid that my dear Perceptor is a bit __**tied**__ up at the moment."_

"_Starscream." _Skyfire grits his denta, "What have you **done** to him? Where―"

"_Shut up!" _The Seeker screeches over the link, _"I'll be the one stating my demands. Not. __**You**__."_

"Please." Skyfire begs, "…please. Let me talk to him. I need to know that he's all right."

"…_Fine." _From the other end of the communication line, Skyfire hears someone or something shifting about, before, _"All right. You may speak now."_

"_Sk…Skyfire?" _The shuttle's vocal hitch at the tremble of the microscope's timid voice.

"Perceptor," Skyfire does not know whether to laugh or cry with relief, "You…are you okay?"

"……" The microscope halts, but speaks up when Starscream hisses something indecipherable from the other end, _"…y-yes…Sky…please…" _For a moment, the link shorts out, consumed by a roll of static, until the sound of Perceptor's fearful voice breaking through, _"…find me. Please hurry." _

"Where are you?"

But Perceptor's voice disappears, Starscream snarling into the link, _"Someplace you and I are intimately familiar with." _The Seeker shuts down the comm. frequency before Skyfire can demand for the Decepticon to let the scientist go.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

Perceptor huddles against the icy wall of the cave, arms stretched in front of his chassis, bound by the metal rope that Starscream employed when tearing a tall streetlight from the pavement, snapping of the lamp piece, and winding the metal around the microscope's wrists and arms.

The Seeker had ordered his trine-mates to return to base, ignoring their anger and concern, grappling his smaller prisoner into his arms before his thrusters shot him straight up into the sky. Perceptor cringing as the ground fell far below them, the Seeker forced to remain in bipedal form in order to carry his small burden.

Nearly half a cycle later, they were somewhere in the Arctic, Starscream depositing the microscope into a deep cave at the base of a massive glacial mountain.

The cold literally _burned_, and the scientist shivers against its sharp bite, his frame not used to such low temperature, and his pedes slipping helplessly across the slick cave floor, the ice glass-like in texture. One small amount of mercy, his violent shivers producing a small measure of heat that provided a minimal amount of comfort.

He carefully watched the Seeker as Starscream violently shut down the connection, snarling an indistinct location to the shuttle over the comm. link. Perceptor prayed that Skyfire would be able to make sense of the Decepticon's broad answer.

"Starscream…"

Perceptor flinched when the Seeker glared hotly down at him. The scientist bowed his helm, lowering his gaze, trying not to invoke the mech's distemper.

But that turns into a fleeting hope.

He only has time to catch the warning snarl before the Seeker looms above him, trapping the scientist against the wall of the cave with both arms at each side of the microscope's helm.

"You thought you could fool me, didn't you?" The Seeker hissed, glaring into his reflection in the startled blue optical glass, "I bet both of you were laughing at me the entire time. Poor…_stupid _Starscream," The Decepticon spits out the word, "Never mind that he lost one mate to the Autobot **scum**, but his other mate hid within their ranks the entire time! But no, no, we mustn't tell Starscream. Primus forbid he ever find out. Why would he deserve to know that both of his mates - Are Within. His. _Grasp_."

Perceptor shivered underneath the unmoving gaze, "You chose the Decepticons. Everything they believed in…I couldn't follow that tyrant's rule, nor the deactivation or enslavement of every single being who would oppose him―"

Starscream's fists leave deep cavities in the wall, curled hands buried to the wrists in the deep ice. _"You left me!"_

"You abandoned us the moment you accepted the Decepticon badge!" Perceptor fired back.

"You are both mine!" Starscream pushes his face close, filling Perceptor's sight, "It should not have been any contest or argument for either of you to follow!"

"Listen to yourself!" Perceptor failed to push back farther, back flush with the wall, "You're no better than _Megatron_! You would make your own mates into your unwilling slaves because of your temper and jealousy!"

It should not surprise him when he is picked up and shoved **hard** into the opposite wall of the cave. The back of his helm cracking like a human thighbone against the ice.

"**Shut your mouth!"**

Perceptor, suddenly released, losing his footing and falling upon his back. He glares up at the Seeker, helm throbbing, a dent marring the dark paint on the back of his helm. "Go ahead." He whispers coldly, "Strike me again. Prove to me that you're no better than him." The microscope dares him.

For a long, hanging moment, the Seeker looks tempted to fulfill his request.

However, further argument or violence is interrupted by the shout from outside the cave.

"_STARSCREAM!"_

"Skyfire!" Perceptor jolts, relief flooding him. He turns towards the entrance, but cries out in surprise and anger when roughly seized.

"Not so fast," Starscream grasps him by the back of his neck, barely holding the microscope off the ground. The mech's pedes slipping across the ice, kicking helplessly, trying to gain his footing, "I think it's time for all three of us to share this little **reunion**."

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

"_STARSCREAM!"_

Skyfire's gaze whips across the vast, icy terrain. The wind howling, small crystals of ice sweeping through the air as the shuttle lands, the heat of his engines causing a wave of steam to surround his legs.

'_Perceptor, where are you?' _Skyfire turns left and right, the landscape looking the same no matter which direction he turned.

"Looking for something?"

Skyfire spins around, jolted by Starscream stepping out of a well-hidden cave, masked by the tall mounds of ice scattered around the entrance.

Perceptor hangs from his grasp, optics flickering in pain, dangling by one hand around his neck. Bound arms loose between his slumped legs as he half-kneels, half-sprawls at the Seeker's side.

"**Let him go!" **Skyfire's voice echoes across the ice.

"Make me." Starscream hisses.

Enraged, by the audacity and the suffering that Starscream continued to persist in causing the both of them over the past cycle, Skyfire rushes the Seeker.

Starscream throws Perceptor to the side, darting forward and meeting the large shuttle halfway.

The sound of impact between the two mechs ripples across the snow and ice. Perceptor yelps as he hits the ground, rolling onto his side, facing the scuffle between the two mechs.

"Stop this right now, Starscream!" Skyfire scowls, pushing against the slimmer Decepticon. To his surprise, the slighter mech not having too much difficulty holding him back. Their arms locked on the other's shoulders, grunting and straining to hold the other in place.

"I haven't even **begun**."

His face pounds against Skyfire's chassis, surprising the large shuttle. The next blow cracks his left optic, the damaged glass temporarily leaving him with the one eye useless.

He senses the immediate danger before Starscream can strike again. Lifting and throwing the Seeker over his shoulder, the Decepticon shrieking in rage tossed like a rag-doll through the air. Null-rays firing into the ground as he spun through the air, the shot no longer aimed at the shuttle's knees.

Skyfire uses the sliver of chance to try to rush to Perceptor.

Before he can make it five steps, two shots intercept him. Causing him to scramble across the ice to avoid the blasts, falling onto his hands and knees, fingers digging into the ice and providing him with temporary handholds to halt his slide.

Starscream, in alternate mode, swoops low, firing tight shots at the shuttle. Forcing him away from the microscope. Skyfire rolling to avoid a blast that comes a little too close.

"You abandoned me!" Starscream shouts, turning about, coming around for another pass as Skyfire perilously pushes onto his pedes, "You have **no** idea how badly I ached for both of you. I thought I lost you on this worthless planet, and Perceptor on Cybertron, and yet you both gallivant around like two lovesick drones, leaving me in the dust of your memories!"

"The Starscream we loved might as well be offline!" Skyfire shot right back, shouting up at the Seeker bearing down on him, "I would have never imagined the day that one of my own mates would raise a hand or weapon against the other, _but you've proven me wrong_!"

He spins away, like a matador avoiding a raging bull, avoiding the Seeker's pass, the wing barely clipping him.

Starscream's shots dance across the ice and tall hills and mountains, Perceptor instinctively ducking at the ringing sound and scorched blasts that dot the ground above and around him.

"Stop it!" Skyfire shouts, enraged that Starscream would dare fire so close to the captured Autobot. He is swift to assume shuttle mode, taking to the air. Clearly not matching in speed with the Seeker, but he hopes to draw the Decepticon's firepower away from Perceptor.

It is a fox and hare chase, the shuttle only just arching, dropping, or falling to avoid each shot. They fly erratically, alternating in chasing the other, sharing curses and harsh blows when their cockpits and bellies smash together when they are unsuccessfully in completing a safe pass.

The Arctic surface begins to take the shape of a war zone, cracks and scorched punctures creating a mosaic of smoking craters and jagged fissures.

Skyfire shouts in agony as a shot hit its mark, right wing spewing forth flames and smoke. He spins out, the ice rushing him as he takes a nosedive straight down.

"Skyfire!" Perceptor screams, falling on his stomach, desperately reaching his bound hands in the direction of Skyfire's descending plunge towards the ice, as if trying to catch the shuttle before he hit the ground.

The shuttle skids across the ice, cockpit howling like a metal beast from the Pit. He spins out of control, skidding across the ice the length of two football fields, nose crushing into a tall mound of ice and snow.

Skyfire rasps in pain, gears grinding as he takes to his bipedal mode at a snail-pace, collapsing onto his flank, clutching at the wound in his side, connecting arm sparking and hissing in contact with the cold air and ragged wires peeking through the gouge in his forearm.

He does not honor the Decepticon a shred of fear when the telltale footsteps approach, the Seeker striding towards him, looming above him in all of his red, cobalt, and white glory.

"What are you waiting for, then?" Skyfire glares down the barrel of Starscream's null ray, the Seeker standing above him, the weapon aimed directly in the shuttle's glowering face, "Just do it. Maybe you'll feel better about yourself by burying your mates in the ice, since you can't bear to leave us in peace?"

"**You** want to forget about **me**." Starscream pushes the null ray against his cheek, glaring down at the injured shuttle, "I haven't forgotten about either of you. And this is the way you repay me."

Skyfire chuckles in dark humor, laughing harder at the Seeker's expression at his sudden burst of hilarity, "We could never forget you. Our Star. You will always hold a piece of our Sparks…But _forgive_ you, after Cybertron? After this planet? After everything right **here**? I truly do not know anymore. The mech I'm looking at…" Skyfire met the Seeker's puzzled face, delivering what he supposed would be his final admission, "I don't recognize the Starscream we fell in love with."

"……" To both of their surprise, the null ray lowers ever so slightly. "Sky…" Starscream whispers.

A loud boom and a rumbling crack interrupts.

Both the Autobot's and Decepticon's helms jerk to the side, staring up in surprise, then horror, as a massive crack splits down the summit of the glacial mountain. Boulders of ice spilling out the long crack, a landslide of ice and snow beginning to slide down the broad face, the seemingly snail-crawl pace disguising the dangerous velocity that the tidal wave of blue and white travelled.

At the foot of the mountain, Perceptor watched the onrushing avalanche with blue optics hollow with shock, slipping onto his knees when he tries to find his footing, chin cracking against the ice. His alternate mode and bipedal form not designed for the slick surface, the microscope might as well be bolted to the ground with the lack of success he had in moving about, **"Sky!"**

"_PERCEPTOR!" _Skyfire groaned in pain when he tried to rise, hand clenching his side. Dragging his heavy cumbersome frame forward, reaching for his mate who lay so far away, too far for him to reach in time.

Starscream roared above him, shooting like a rocket towards the mech.

Perceptor shielded his face with his bound arms, curling into a ball, trying to protect his helm as the avalanche bore down upon him.

Starscream flipped into bipedal mode, slamming into the microscope, the momentum hurling them both in the farthest direction. Carrying them away from the main bulk of the avalanche, but both disappeared under a massive wave as the outskirt of the rushing flow surged above and over the two.

"**NO!"** Skyfire screamed.

The roar and tumble of ice and snow continued for what seemed like joors. Once the avalanche ceased, an eerie silence fell. A new, smaller mountain of fresh snow and ice covering the Arctic terrain, burying the two mechs underneath.

Skyfire's hands ground into the ice, dragging deep furrows through the thick frozen glass. "…no…" The shuttle whimpered, pressing his face against the ice, "No no no no…"

A stack of white within the mountain of snow and ice pushes upward, the mound shivering and bubbling. A cobalt hand thrusts through the frigid walls of their tomb, the Seeker's head, fuselages, and shoulders propelling up from the depths.

Starscream's heaves a whooping breath through his vents, gleeful for the weight of the kilos of snow forcefully thrown and removed from his frame. He grits his denta, pulling himself partway from the crater of snow. With his other arm, he drags Perceptor's limp form, coaxing the dead weight from the hollow of ice. The microscope off-lined by the combined impact of the Seeker hitting him and their crash into the ice followed by the impact of the avalanche, even though Starscream had shielded the Autobot as best as he could.

Battered and aching, Starscream gracelessly rolls to the bottom of the pile of upturned snow and ice, with care laying the microscope on his back. Dusting the snow and shards of ice off Perceptor's smooth face, assuring his involuntary worry about the mech's unconsciousness by testing the warmth of his metal flesh and the pulse of his Spark underneath his plating.

Starscream looks up, scowling at the dumbfounded look on the shuttle's face. "Tch!" The Seeker hisses in disgust. Pointedly turning his back to them both, the Decepticon shifts into alternate mode, "Better activate your emergency beacon, _Autobot_, before both of you freeze." With a roar of engines, Starscream quickly abandons the Arctic territory, leaving the two Autobots to wait for their little friends to arrive…

And he would rather be deactivated ― slowly and painfully ― by that gloating fool Megatron than admit that he had activated a distress beacon across the secured frequency for the Autobots when he had been halfway through dragging Perceptor to safety out of the tomb of ice.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

Perceptor curled into the warm chassis, face buried against the broad white frame. Burrowing into Skyfire, unconsciously seeking his mate's comfort and steady arms.

Ratchet scowled at the shuttle, but did not feel like separating the two mechs. Privately thankful that Silverbolt and the other Aerialbots had managed to work together to bring Skyfire and Perceptor back from the Arctic in relatively one piece with fairly superficial damage given what the medic truly feared had become of both of them.

The other Autobots were furious, to say the least, that Starscream had apparently threatened Skyfire into a trap in order to rescue Perceptor. Many were thankful that the shuttle managed to activate his distress beacon otherwise no one would have known where to begin looking for either scientist.

The only medicine now that either mech needed was a long recharge ― to sooth their wounds and rest their CPUs ― after such a terrifying and distressful day. His ward already occupied by Bluestreak and Wheeljack, the two still recovering from the skirmish from earlier that day.

_Finding _a berth capable of holding Skyfire's mass was usually near to impossible; Ratchet was silently thankful that Hoist and Grapple had had the time to design several in preparation for the shuttle and the Dinobots in the instances when needed for those injured in battle.

The medic slid the privacy curtain around the two recharging mechs, leaving them in peace, determined to examine both when they acquired proper rest.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPS

"…Sky?"

"Yes, Perceptor?"

"…it still hurts."

"I know…"

"He…I was **afraid **of him. My mate…"

"Shhh. It's okay."

"No it's not! He hurt you..and he hurt me. I-I don't know if I can ever forgive him…"

"I understand."

"But…at the same time…he didn't destroy you. And he saved me. I don't know what I'm supposed to believe. Is Starscream the monster that I have always feared?...or the mech that I still love?"

"…I really don't know, Perceptor."

"Do you think we ever will?"

"…Hopefully. Maybe. At the very least, we should honor his memory. The Starscream that we both loved did show his face, even if for just a moment."

"……" Perceptor ducked his helm beneath Skyfire's chin, tightening his arms around his mate's broad waist. "…'kay." The microscope whispered, leaning in to the chaste kiss of affection that the shuttle laid on the bruised, scuffed metal flesh of his cheek.

END

Author's Note: This is a work of fiction, and I have absolutely NO idea how the environment of the Arctic works. Nor the degree or logistics of the depth of the ice, the water, etc. Just bear with me. Any mistakes are mine entirely.


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